Suzie McGinnes
Jersey,Channel Islands, UK,
Summary
Driven, focused and resilient professional with 20+ years’ experience in aviation, customer-centric and operational environments. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to communicate at all levels: Frequent exposure to Royalty, HNWI’s and VIPs within events and aviation environments. Is able to make quick decisions under pressure and thrives in a fast-paced environment. A results-driven professional, who can quickly establish confidence and rapport through an assertive and confident manner. Having lived in United Arab Emirates for 17 years, I'm adept with sensitively managing culturally diverse teams. Professionally, I am self-motivated, enthusiastic, inspiring and empathetic. I'm able to develop and implement policies/procedures whilst performing daily administrative tasks necessary to maintain operations whilst handling people issues. Excellent problem-solving skills.
Personally, I'm happy, friendly, sociable and fascinated by the human condition. Lover of sunshine, beaches, dogs and quizzes.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
5
5
years of post-secondary education
Work History
Head of Inflight Services & Aircrew
Blue Islands Airline
Jersey / Guernsey, Channel Islands
06.2022 - Current
- Daily management of the Inflight Services department including successful restructure with expansion
- Performance monitoring, management and development of Cabin Crew in two bases
- Oversight and delivery of Cabin Crew training programme
- Ongoing recruitment and positive retention of team-members, reducing attrition rates from almost 80% in 2022 to under 15% in 2024. Stronger junior crew team, with over 83% eligible for upgrade to Senior Cabin Crew
- Compliance and auditing, responsibility for writing and updating the relevant suite of manuals
- Ensuring the highest levels of safety by promoting a just safety culture and encouraging non-jeopardy reporting. Review and revision of the Risk Register and positive participation in all Safety Review Board meetings and Regularly held Safety Action Group meetings
- Inception and development of new unisex crew uniform project to full launch
- After successfully stabilising the Inflight Services department, my role was expanded to include management of Pilots as well as Cabin Crew
- Strong emphasis on employee well-being and cohesion between crew, flight operations and ground teams
Pavillion Operations Manager
UK Pavilion Expo 2020 Dubai
Dubai
01.2021 - 04.2022
- Successfully penned and implemented policies and protocols, including writing staff handbooks and devising sophisticated rostering patterns
- Manage and inspire 100+ front and back of house staff, to ensure a smooth, seamless, exceptional visitor experience
- Overseeing and managing set-up and promotion of on-site events
- Provided direct support to the senior leadership team
- Lead daily briefing to plan for Royal and Dignitary visits, group visits/VIPs/Commercially important visitors/supporting and promoting on-site events
- Roster and leave planning
- Conduct performance reviews and form development plans
- Ensure adherence to H&S protocols for all front and back of house staff
- Pavilion opening/closing procedures
- Completion of daily and weekly reports
Flight Purser
Emirates Airlines
Dubai
01.2010 - 01.2020
- Lead pre-flight briefings to foster team spirit and achieve common focus. Instill confidence by allocating resources due to individual strengths and goals, review details of flight and refresh professional knowledge
- Discuss potential issues and solutions
- Plans for groups/VIPs/HNWIs/Commercially important passengers/extra security procedures and personnel
- Responsible for health, safety and well-being of passengers and crew
- Mitigate and manage problems and deliver effective service recovery
- Ensure compliance of all crew in relation to safety and security responsibilities
- Promoting a positive work environment by identifying high performance and offering support to develop crew
- Lead and assist with emergency situations in flight
- Provide quality assurance reports to ensure the highest levels of safety and passenger satisfaction are maintained
- Responsible for legal documentation to appropriate authorities for international flights
- Overall in charge of the complete Flight Operations from Ground Service to In-flight Service to Post Flight Service
- A senior member of the team, involved in service design and trials, implementing new procedures on board, from safety to customer service strategy
- Undertook additional unpaid responsibility as a member of the Crisis Management and Special Assistance Teams. Also, Employee Assistance Programme: offering support with critical incident stress management
- Finessed internal and external stakeholder relationships including the medical team and regulatory authorities
- Completed 14,000+ flying hours of international and domestic flights carrying up to 626 passengers and 26 crew-members
- Ensured adherence to company regulations, while trained in emergency situations, helping to diffuse high-level situations from escalating to emergency levels
- Consistently recognised for exceptional performance, through promotions and Najm awards
- Successfully managed and co-ordinated numerous emergency situations in co-ordination with Captain in Command
Cabin Supervisor
Emirates Airlines
Dubai
01.2008 - 01.2010
Premium Cabin Crew, Cabin Crew
Emirates Airlines
Dubai
01.2005 - 01.2008
Education
A-Levels - English, Geography, Art, Modern Studies, French
Uddingston Grammar School
Uddingston, Glasgow, Scotland. 08.1988 - 06.1993
SVQ Level 2 - Mental Health at Work / Managing Mental Health at Work
Jersey Recovery College
Jersey, Channel Islands, UK 02.2023 - 03.2023
Skills
- Problem Solving / Solutions Focused
- Customer Service Orientation
- Planning & Organisation
- Decision making
- Team building
- Succession Planning
- Mentoring skills
- Teamwork & leadership
- Results oriented
- Multitasking
- Delegation
- Diplomacy
- Learning Agility
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References
Available on request.
Current Airside pass-holder.
Current UK Attestation and ATQ
Cabin Crew Medical Expiry 06 / 2027
Timeline
SVQ Level 2 - Mental Health at Work / Managing Mental Health at Work
Jersey Recovery College
02.2023 - 03.2023
Head of Inflight Services & Aircrew
Blue Islands Airline
06.2022 - Current
Pavillion Operations Manager
UK Pavilion Expo 2020 Dubai
01.2021 - 04.2022
Flight Purser
Emirates Airlines
01.2010 - 01.2020
Cabin Supervisor
Emirates Airlines
01.2008 - 01.2010
Premium Cabin Crew, Cabin Crew
Emirates Airlines
01.2005 - 01.2008
A-Levels - English, Geography, Art, Modern Studies, French
Uddingston Grammar School
08.1988 - 06.1993
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